Pizza Stone On it's way

dublin

Hi all
Hope everyone is doing well, might hit 80* here in CT today, Than Sleet and in the 40's by Thursday. This winter will never give up :-([p]Anyway, warm today so I am taking advantage of it, Picking up my new Large Pizza stone and Plate Setter from BGE at lunch time, The misses wants me to cook pizza tonight, she wants to see if I can justify the expense of the stone and setter.[p]So,I need some advice from all the pizza people on what to add, i.e. toppings and sauce. I will be buying the dough from a pizza store(What size should I get?)
Thx All
Wish me luck
dublin

KennyG

dublin,[p]Should be a bunch of opinions on this one. First of all, can I assume that you have a peel?[p]Scratch pizza has become a Sunday tradition here at the KennyG ranch. I've got a string of 12 consecutive weeks going. [p]I make dough in my bread machine according to Spin's recipe from the archives with just a few twists.. I add 1/4 cup each of corn meal and semolina flour along with the general purpose flour for 3 1/2 cups total. Also 1 1/4 cups water at 110°. I don't proof the yeast, just dump it in at the beginning of the cycle. This 1 1/2 pound dough recipe yields enough for 2 12" inch pies. Loaded with toppings, the wife and I can hardly finish one.[p]Scratch sauce is a labor of love and I've gotten lazy and just buy small 8 oz. cans of pre-made sauce. One of these is more than enough for a single pie.[p]Cheese - may I humbly suggest a blend of asiago, provolone, and mozzarella? It's our favorite and just an opinion.[p]Toppings - let your imagine run wild, we never use the same combo twice. Last week was hot Italian turkey sausage (the wife hates fat) and sauteed baby portobello shrooms.[p]550° with stone on setter is the key. My particular dough recipe requires about 20 minutes baking for best results.[p]Good Luck, you just might never return to your favorite pizza chain![p]K~G

Steve-O

dublin,
Follow all of Kenny's advice and you should have a fine pizza. I might add, though, that your plate setter and pizza stone should go in the egg 10-15 minutes before you put on the pizza. I usually put it in when the temp gets around 400° and add the wide open daisy wheel at the same time. When temp hits 550° it's time to add the pizza. If you don't want to make your own dough for the first go, Betty Crocker pizza dough in a bag is pretty good. A wood pizza peel works fine for getting the pizza on the stone (be sure to use some corn meal on the stone), but I find that a metal one makes getting it off much easier.

dublin

KennyG,
Silly question, do I cook the Italian turkey sausage and Shrooms first?
Thx
dublin

BlueSmoke

dublin,
I hope KennyG tells us his favorite way: mine is to pre-cook (and crumble and drain) the sausage, but not the shrooms. At assembly, shrooms go under the cheese, sausage on top.[p]It's how I learned to make pizza back in college: veggies go under the cheese so they can simmer in sauce and melting cheese, meats go over the cheese so any remaining fat can be evaporated.[p]Ken

KennyG

dublin,[p]Even with the best of intentions, I left out some important stuff. Pre-cook - of course! Blue Smoke posted some great advice and even an old dog like me just learned something.[p]Ken

KennyG

BlueSmoke,[p]Thanks for sharing your expertise here! This old geezer just learned something![p]K~G